Farenheit 451 Reflection
Reflection #1 Cipriano Echavarria Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Pg. 72 “You can’t build a house without nails and wood. If you don’t want a house built, hide the nails and wood. If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war”. (72) Censorship has stroked the world for many decades; fearful governments have been hiding information or modifying it to its citizens. Why? Why are governments afraid of the knowledge of their people?
Knowledge is power, and throughout history we’ve seen how man is always in search for more knowledge, curious on finding explanations to unanswered questions and on analyzing both sides to a question. Knowledge of people has caused many problems to world governments, many revolutions and wars have started due to the fact that citizens have encountered a new form of thinking. Fahrenheit 451 portrays a futuristic society in which the government has censored everything, from books to newspapers and from T.
V shows to Radio shows. This society never experiments conflict or disagreement because everybody is taught the same things and therefore think the same way. This has made me think on which is actually the best way to rule a society. Is it the way most countries in the world implement, an uncensored and free-thinking way, were due to the different opinions and thoughts many conflicts are created which lead to death, torture and cruelty. Or is it the way shown in the book, were everybody is thought to think the same way.
I arrived to a conclusion and basing myself on the Human Rights Declaration, people should be free on what information they want to know and on how they want to think, but they must be taught to respect differences, and to be tolerant in order to avoid conflict. Reflection #2 Cipriano Echavarria Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Pg. 181 I really enjoyed myself and learned a lot while reading this book. I’ve never liked fiction or realistic-fiction books but I’ve got to admit that this book will make me think twice whenever I’ll have to choose between a fiction and a non-fiction book.
The author did a really god job on creating a Futuristic place were many things were associated to reality but had different roles. For example, firemen instead of having to extinguish fire had to create fires which burned books. This makes you think about reality and ask yourself questions about how would society be if roles were inverted, if firemen instead of extinguishing fires created them, if policemen instead of providing security against thefts and murders would attack you, if drugs were legal etc.
The book not only provided an interesting perspective on how would a society be if everyone thought the same way but it also gave many lectures about love and friendship. It showed how Montag (main character) didn’t love his wife and that even though he pretended and tried to be happy with her and tried to love her wasn’t able to do it. This made me think about the importance of love, and of never trying to trick your feelings on trying to make them love a person who you really don’t, it also made me think (as harsh as it could sound) if I really loved my girlfriend or if she was just a person who physically and mentally attracted me.
Finally the author did a great job in writing many quotes that relates to everyday situations, one of the quotes that I most liked and related to was: “We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at least one which makes the heart run over. ” The author used this quote to explain Montags feelings towards a girl named Clarisse, which after a short time being friends Montag started to love.
This quote extremely relates to a situation I experienced in the past, my best friend and I let our hearts “run over” and after many years of being friends we fell in love. Fahrenheit has been probably the book from which I’ve most learned about and the one with I could relate the most; it’s my new favorite book. It’s curious how things in life just arrive in the perfect moment. A week ago I was in the UN model of Barranquilla discussing Extrajudicial Executions and censorship done by the government; coincidentally Fahrenheit 451 is based on different types of Extrajudicial Executions and censorship done by the government.
